by Geoffrey Churchman

This cavalier attitude to city planning seems to have also been the case in Dunedin recently with this article Outrage over Dunedin council go-ahead for demolition of ‘architectural masterpiece’ detailing a controversy over the forthcoming demolition of a notable building from 1920.

Following the destruction caused by constant Allied bombing of Germany during WW2, much effort was put into restoring important buildings of distinction. Even in the cities that Stalin made part of Poland such as Danzig and Breslau, the Poles rebuilt much of the heritage parts of the cities so that today they look very similar to the way they did before the war.

But in Dunedin the attitude seems to be ‘Stuff that, let them build something modern’. The former Mayor of Wellington, Michael Fowler was also notably of that mindset.

In Waikanae, with nearly all the town dating from after WW2, there are few buildings that would merit the description of ‘heritage’ — there are some in Elizabeth Street and the Hey Coastie café in Tutere Street (the old beach Post Office) would be another. They need to be protected as so we don’t see the same controversy as in the Dunedin example.